Leigha
A feminine name derived from the English word "leigh", meaning a meadow.
Name Census estimates that about 6,374 living Americans carry the first name Leigha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leigha today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leigha births was 2011 (267 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leigha. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Leigha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.4K
~ 1 in 53,774 Americans
Peak year
2011
267 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,415
Tracked since 1961
Census
Leigha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,638 people with the first name Leigha, which placed it at #3,623 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,623
National first-name rank
People counted
5.6K
5,638 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leigha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leigha is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Black (7.5%) and Hispanic (6.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Leigha described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Leigha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.9% · 4,390
- Black or African American7.5% · 422
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 369
- Two or more races6.3% · 354
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 74
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 29
Popularity
Leigha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leigha from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,822 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leigha by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Leigha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leighas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 31 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, New York recorded the most babies named Leigha, while Minnesota, Kansas, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 122 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leigha
The name Leigha is a relatively modern variant of the name Leigh, which has its roots in the Old English word "leah" meaning a meadow, clearing, or field. The name was initially used as a surname in England, referring to someone who lived near or in a meadow.
In the 12th century, the name Leigh began to be used as a given name, particularly for boys. It was a popular choice among the Anglo-Norman nobility and gentry. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Leigh being used as a given name dates back to 1182, when a man named Leigh de Longchamp was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire.
The name Leigha emerged as a variant spelling of Leigh in the late 20th century, likely as a way to add a more feminine touch to the traditionally masculine name. While the name Leigh has a long history, the spelling Leigha is relatively modern and does not have any significant historical references or notable bearers from earlier periods.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Leigha can be found in the 1940s. Leigha Bingham, an American actress, was born in 1948 and appeared in several television shows and films during the 1970s and 1980s.
Another notable bearer of the name Leigha was Leigha Brown, an Australian sprinter who competed in the Commonwealth Games and represented Australia in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
In literature, the name Leigha was used for a character in the novel "The Spiral Staircase" by Karen Armstrong, published in 2004.
While the name Leigha is not as common as its parent name Leigh, it has gained some popularity in recent decades as a unique and feminine alternative to the traditional spelling.
People
Leigha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leigha as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Leigha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leigha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,374 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leigha going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 53,774 US residents.
Is Leigha a common name?
We classify Leigha as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,556 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leigha most popular?
The single biggest year for Leigha was 2011, when 267 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leigha is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leigha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,638 people with the name Leigha, or 1.87 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,623 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Leigha in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Leigha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leigha appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,640 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Leigha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leigha is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Black (7.5%) and Hispanic (6.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Leigha most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Leigha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.9% (4,390 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Leigha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leigha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leigha in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Leigha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leigha in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Leigha can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Leigha as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.